This invention relates to propulsion or power systems utilizing detonative combustion for energy conversion, that use liquid hydrocarbon fuels, and more particularly to a fuel preconditioning system for use with detonation-based propulsion and power systems.
Detonation based combustion systems can be used in place of ordinary combustors to enhance the performance of certain systems. Because many fuels that one might want to use in such systems, such as aviation fuels, consist of a range of relatively heavy hydrocarbons that do not readily detonate, relatively high detonation initiation energy is required for detonation. In a similar manner, known natural gas fuels, which are primarily methane, are not readily detonable compared to other known fuels. To facilitate enhanced detonation, at least some known detonation systems mix oxygen with the fuel to create a more detonable mixture that is ignited in a detonation initiator chamber. Although the initiator chamber creates an over-driven detonation that initiates a fuel-air mixture detonation in the detonation chambers, such systems require the addition of oxygen tanks or oxygen generation systems, and as a result, any benefits gained from using such pulse detonation systems may be offset by the weight gain to the system.
Therefore, there is a continued need for techniques to enable the use of hydrocarbon fuels in detonation based combustion systems.